The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down decades-long limits on how much individuals can make in combined contributions to political campaigns, another step in the court’s steady reversal of Watergate-era rules that were adopted to curb the influence of big money in American politics.

Illustrating the far-reaching ramifications of the ruling, just hours after it was announced Massachusetts ceased enforcing its own caps on overall contributions to state, county, and local candidates.

In a 5-to-4 decision that fell along ideological lines, the court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the government to limit the total amount of money an individual can give to all federal candidates, parties, and political action committees.

The ruling did not affect the current maximum contribution to any single candidate.